1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to quality of service (QoS) for a stream of packets. More particularly, the present invention relates to Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv 6) that uses both RSVP and routing headers and to Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) source routing.
2. Description of Related Art
In packet switched networks, packets may be transmitted between nodes coupled to the network to effect communication between the nodes. Information in the packets may include messages and commands such as a request for service, connection managements controls, or data. Large transmissions may be divided into packets instead of being transmitted as one long string.
The Internet is, for example, a packet switched network. Internet Protocol (IP) is an Internetwork protocol that defines how to format various information into packets and transmit those packets using the Internet. IP provides a near universal delivery system that can operate on almost any underlying network.
IP may be defined according to IPv4 with the “v4” indicating version 4 of the Internet Protocol. IPv4 serves what could be called the computer market. The focus of IPv4 is to couple computers together to permit communications over various networks where the computers range from personal computers (PC's) to supercomputers. Most of the computers are attached to local area networks (LAN's) and the vast majority are not mobile.
The next generation Internet Protocol is IPv6 with the “v6” indicating version 6 of the Internet Protocol. IPv6 is intended to be compatible with IPv4 while addressing the needs of high performance networks (e.g., ATM) and low bandwidth networks (e.g., wireless). IPv6 also provides a platform for new Internet functionality that may be required in the future (e.g., telephony, television, video on demand, equipment control).